An increasing trend in the multimedia industry is directed towards users viewing content on-demand. With the proliferation of streaming services such as, for example, NetFlix®, Amazon® Instant Video, and Hulu®, a user can stream movies directly to a personal device such as a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, etc. Additionally, users are increasingly attempting to use such personal devices at remote locations such as airplanes, and connecting to a network resource such as the Internet via Wi-Fi. Accordingly, users may desire to view user-chosen and/or user-preferred content maintained by streaming services at remote locations such as on an airplane instead of relying on the multimedia programming provided by airlines or other such third-party entities.
However, the ability of a user to utilize a personal device at a remote location such as an airplane faces significant challenges; notably, the Internet connectivity on airplanes, for example, cannot sustain high- or even low-definition video content due to bandwidth issues. As such, while airlines are increasingly providing in-flight Wi-Fi, the limited speeds of such Wi-Fi prevent a user from successfully viewing many forms of multimedia content.
A user can adapt to such situations by downloading content onto his or her personal device prior to arriving at the remote location. However, in such scenarios, the user is thereby limited to access only to the specific content that he or she downloaded prior to arriving. Additionally, downloading content onto one's personal device beforehand requires forethought as well as sufficient time to fully carry out such downloading activities, and such considerations might be undesirable or even unavailable to a user depending on the specific circumstances. Moreover, the download of a high-definition multimedia content consumes significant space on tablet devices.
Accordingly, a need exists to enable a user to access his or her personalized content on his or her own personal device on-demand from a content service via remote systems such as on an airplane by circumventing common Internet connectivity bottleneck issues.